A. Thurairajah
Professor A. Thurairajah | |
---|---|
அ. துரைராசா | |
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jaffna | |
In office September 1988 – April 1994 | |
Preceded by | S. Vithiananthan |
Succeeded by | K. Kunaratnam |
Personal details | |
Born | Kamparmalai, Sri Lankan Tamil | 10 November 1934
Alagiah Thurairajah (
Early life and family
Thurairajah was born on 10 November 1934 in Kamparmalai in northern Ceylon.[1][2] He was the son of Velupillai Alagiah and Sellammah from Imaiyanan in Vadamarachchi.[1] He was educated at the Udupiddy American Mission College and Hartley College.[1][2] After completing school he commenced studies at the University of Ceylon in July 1953, graduating with a BSc degree in civil engineering in 1957.[1][2]
Thurairajah then served as an instructor in civil engineering at the university until March 1958 when he started working for the Public Works Department as a Junior Assistant Engineer for four months.[2] He then went to the University of Cambridge on a scholarship after Kenneth H. Roscoe chose him to be his research student.[2] Between October 1958 and December 1961 Thurairajah assisted Roscoe in his research into shear properties of soils.[1][2] This research earned Thurairajah a PhD in June 1962 with a thesis titled Some shear properties of kaolin and of sand.[1][2]
Thurairajah married Rajeswari.[1] They had three daughters and two sons.[1][2] His younger son, Alahesh Thurairajah continued the Legacy of his father and earned a great reputation in geotechnical community. He is currently serving as President and Principal of a Geotechnical Firm 'Earth Mechanics, Inc.', based near Los Angeles, California.
Career
After Cambridge Thurairajah worked in London for a company called Terreasearch Ltd for a while in 1962 before returning to
Thurairajah became vice-chancellor of the University of Jaffna in September 1988.[1][2][4] He resigned in March 1994 on medical grounds.[1][2]
Thurairajah moved to Colombo for treatment and re-joined the Open University.[1] He died on 11 June 1994 in Colombo due to cardiovascular failure brought about by leukaemia.[1][2] He was posthumously awarded the Maamanithar (Great Man) honour by the LTTE Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.[5]
Thurairajah was a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (Sri Lanka) from 1977; Institution of Civil Engineers (Sri Lanka) from 1979; and the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK) from May 1985.[1][2] He was president of the National Academy of Sciences (Sri Lanka) in 1986.[1] He was president of the Institution of Civil Engineers (Sri Lanka) between October 1989 to October 1990.[2] He was an expert on soil engineering.[6]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Arumugam, S. (1997). Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon. p. 233.
- ^ ISSN 0266-4488.
- ^ "Past Deans". University of Peradeniya. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ^ "Establishment of the Jaffna Campus of the University of Sri Lanka". University of Jaffna. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012.
- ^ "'Great man' award to Tamilnet editor". BBC Sinhala. 1 May 2005.
- ^ "Alagiah Thurairajah".